Thread: Twitch in my left upper back

I have had issues in the same area. My left trap muscle. Right about the shoulder blade. I have tried a chiropractor, physical therapy and massage therapy. Physically therapy worked the best. They teach you exercises you can do to work that muscle. If it's been bothering you for a while then I would suggest seeing one of them.

Originally Posted by Geared Jesus

most likely an electrolyte imbalance.

It's funny you mention that, because that's what I originally thought.

I recently changed the way I train and though my water intake is roughly the same as it was before, I'm sitting in the sauna after every workout for a good 10-30 minutes.

Perhaps the sauna is dehydrating me, although I really don't see how that could be with all of the water I consume. For instance yesterday, I had a liter of water in the morning before I went to the gym with breakfast while doing homework. Then, I drank SizeOn in a Nalgene, refilled the Nalgene at the gym, drank that and took sips from the water fountain periodically when it ran out. Went into the sauna, drank another whole Nalgene. Came home, drank a shake, went to class from 2:30 to 6:45, drank three liters during that period and then came home and finished off with two more prior to going to bed. That's a ton of freakin' water.

Hmm...

Originally Posted by Doublebase

I have had issues in the same area. My left trap muscle. Right about the shoulder blade. I have tried a chiropractor, physical therapy and massage therapy. Physically therapy worked the best. They teach you exercises you can do to work that muscle. If it's been bothering you for a while then I would suggest seeing one of them.

It doesn't hurt, it's the annoyance factor more than anything. Right now, it isn't twitching but every night for the last couple weeks it begins to twitch, to the point where (according to my girlfriend) you can see it twitching when shirtless.

All are good options, but as a broke college student, spending money on a chiropractor, physical therapy or massage therapy isn't an option.

What exactly did yours feel like, DB?

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

It doesn't hurt, it's the annoyance factor more than anything. Right now, it isn't twitching but every night for the last couple weeks it begins to twitch, to the point where (according to my girlfriend) you can see it twitching when shirtless.

All are good options, but as a broke college student, spending money on a chiropractor, physical therapy or massage therapy isn't an option.

What exactly did yours feel like, DB?

The best way to explain it is that it felt like a hot coal was burning in my left trap muscle. It wasn't all the time. Only when I would drive for long periods of time, stand for a long time or sit at the computer for a while. It still hurts me from time to time but its better since physical therapy. The doctor thought it was from my heavy lifting. For example, when I would do heavy military presses. My delts would overcompensate for my smaller secondary muscles and they would not get worked properly. So she had me do these isolation movements to target the small muscles where I was having the problem.

How long has it lasted?

I get twitches now in my upper abdominal, once it stayed around for a good couple weeks.

No pain or anything, it went away eventually.

Maybe it will just go away for you, ho harm no foul.

Originally Posted by Doublebase

The best way to explain it is that it felt like a hot coal was burning in my left trap muscle. It wasn't all the time. Only when I would drive for long periods of time, stand for a long time or sit at the computer for a while. It still hurts me from time to time but its better since physical therapy. The doctor thought it was from my heavy lifting. For example, when I would do heavy military presses. My delts would overcompensate for my smaller secondary muscles and they would not get worked properly. So she had me do these isolation movements to target the small muscles where I was having the problem.

Interesting.

That sounds different than what I'm going through, thankfully.

Originally Posted by fufu

How long has it lasted?

I get twitches now in my upper abdominal, once it stayed around for a good couple weeks.

No pain or anything, it went away eventually.

Maybe it will just go away for you, ho harm no foul.

Since I changed my training around. Like three weeks?

I wouldn't doubt that it goes away.

I have had what your talking about also. It usually lasts a couple weeks then goes away.

Alright cool. Thanks, DB.

I like Geared Jesus' thoughts on electrolytes.

But I just had another thought. Keep in mind that I'm about as far as one could get on being an expert on physiology, so take this with a grain of salt.

Isn't part of growth experienced in weight training the growth of nerves? I'm not sure if it's strengthening what's there or growing new tracts, but some sort of adaptation happens in the nerves.

Nothing in the body goes right 100% of the time. You get heart palpations, low or high blood sugar, variations in body temperature, and so on. Wouldn't it make sense that the adaptation of the nervous system also have the occasional glitch? Might that be what causes long-term (e.g. weeks) muscle twitches? I figure that they stop after a while because the body corrects the issue.

Anyway, that's my rambling...

Certainly a valid point.

I can't even say its been every single day for the last three weeks, but its been pretty regularly over that time span.

I posted that hypotheses because I've seen that twitching happens to pretty much everyone that works out. Even those who diet well and get plenty of essential salts.

I agree with DOMS, twitches are part of training. There are a few common causes for muscles twitching.. excessive caffine, damaged nerve, recovery from exercise, dietary deficiency, even stress or anxiety.
In your case, I would chalk it up to your weight training.

That's the thing. My water intake is through the roof; if anything, I'm drinking too much water.

Besides the change in training, the only real difference in what I've been doing is the sauna post-workout.

Like I said earlier, it hasn't been doing it thus far today - maybe it's done?